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To spread a little Christmas chuckle I thought I’d share one of the many crafting fails I’ve had this month. Merry Christmas and see ya next year. – Erin

Whether it originated in Germany or America is apparently up for debate as is the exact story behind the Christmas Pickle Tradition. Here’s my version, Santa hides a pickle ornament on your tree Christmas Eve, the first to find it in the morning opens the first present AND gets blessed with a wonderful year.

Sounds like fun right? Nod your head up and down.

Being the DIYer that I am I figured why buy a pickle ornament when I can make one. I mean come on, ornaments are becoming my thing.

Hmm, but how to do it? I KNOW! Why not felt a pickle out of the chartreuse wool roving bought a year ago to make hats with my mother? Sorry we never got those hats made mom.

Here goes.

Okay, I’ve taken out the roving and I’m starting to form my pickle.

It’s time to start getting it wet and soapy.

Good God Almighty, I know you have to have a sense of humor otherwise why would you let me take this picture? It was about this time that I also had my oldest son actually start videotaping the process. After watching it I realized the video had slight pornographic qualities to it and deleted it as quickly as I could.

About here is when I said, “Crap.” My son corrected me, "Leprechaun Crap."

I just couldn’t admit defeat and start over, I couldn’t. So instead I stitched on a smile and glued on some googly eyes. I’ve been told this made my pickle resemble a South Park character.

And then I hung it on the tree in all it’s creased, green, excrement-like glory! It’s as if I can hear it saying,

Christmas List Ornaments

Last month during the height of the No Ugly Ornament Series I shared these awesome Christmas List ornaments over on the Graphic Fairy’s Craft site. They’re super easy and you can personalize them however you’d like. I think they’d make pretty special gift tags, what do you think?

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The next couple of weeks I’ve got a hodge-podge of recipes, round-ups, and reviews scheduled. I hope you find something you like and enjoy these harried holiday times!

Last Wednesday I participated in a Google+ #HolidayHangout with Cyn from Creative Cynchronicity. Click HERE to watch! During it I shared a super cute Book Spine Bookmark gift or table favor idea. I made it by combining a couple of ideas I’d seen via the web, this one and another I’ll mention later on.

I’m really in love with these bookmarks! They make perfect table favors, decorations, or gifts. Wouldn’t you want one of these decorating your Christmas present?

Supplies:

Old books

Scissors and/or X-Acto knife

felt

Fabric Fusion

Optional: string for tassel (I do not include instructions for making tassels)

fake pine garland

ribbons

glitter pipe cleaners

candy canes

Instructions(For starters, you could just watch the video I link to above. In addition to this craft Cyn shares a number of really great projects even some for the kids!)
Start by cutting the spine out of your old books…just the ones that were headed for the recycle bin.

Trim a piece of felt the same size as the book spine.

Glue the felt and spine together using Fabric Fusion and let dry.

Next you’ll add the candy cane and trimmings! For those instructions be sure to head over to SMC by Design and she’ll give you the 411. Once everything is all together you end up with a favor even the most sour of adults would love to get!

How many people do you know own a DSLR camera? Now how many of those same people are admittedly only using it on its Auto settings? Maybe even you? It’s okay, there’s no shame in it! For most of us novice photographers these little machines can be quite confusing. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read all about ISO and aperture only to forget it all when it came time to take the picture.

That’s why I’m so excited to be able to share this awesome gift idea with you today! It’s Kristen Duke’s Say NO to Auto e-book.

What makes this book any different than the ones you’ve already got sitting on a shelf?

Well for starters it’s only $10 and scaled at a size of 4x6, making it easy to print and stash into a camera bag so you can take Duke’s tips with you wherever you go! (Or stuff into the stocking of your favorite wannabe photographer!)

Secondly Duke gets right to the point, lining out the three basic steps you need to understand once you make that jump from auto to manual. Did I lose you at aperture? No worries, she’s also got a handy glossary, ISO reference page and plenty of examples such as this one.

Duke also has a hard copy available for purchase (see below) made of thick cardstock and spiral bound for $20 and if you’re feeling ambitious you can also pick up her second book Get Focused for $12 e-book and $22 hard copy. To purchase CLICK HERE .

I received a free copy of Say NO to Auto for review but the opinions expressed are my own.

A couple of weeks ago I received two bottles of Torani Syrup to review and experiment with in my holiday recipes. I couldn’t have picked two better flavors, Salted Caramel and Peppermint! I completely admit that this was the first time I’d ever used Torani in my home. I had no idea I could find them in Wal-Mart, Walgreens, etc. When I initially added the Salted Caramel to my coffee I went a little overboard and had to dump it. Since then I’ve perfected my morning cup (2 Tbsp syrup, splash of half&half, coffee) and I’ve created these two recipes.

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Salted Caramel Frosting

Ingredients

1 cup butter flavored shortening

4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup Torani Salted Caramel Syrup

Milk as needed to reach desired consistency

Mix shortening with half of the powdered sugar until combined. Add syrup and rest of powdered sugar and beat until smooth. Add milk if necessary to reach your desired consistency. Spread onto cake ( I used spice cake) and enjoy!

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Blend together first four ingredients. Fold in the chocolate chips and half the crushed peppermint canes. Drop by the spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. Sprinkle with remaining crushed candy canes. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet promptly to avoid the crushed candies from sticking to your pan. Cool on rack before serving.

*Note: Personally I hate having sticky crushed peppermint candies on the tops of the cookies, if you feel the same way, you can always mix all of it into the batter.

If you like these recipes, take a moment and visit the Torani site for other recipe ideas and heck, just to peruse the many flavors they offer, you might be surprised at just how many and how off the wall some of them are! ( Bacon flavored syrup?)

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This was a sponsored post. I was provided with two free bottles of Torani syrup for review through the SheSpeaks review program. That said, the opinions expressed are my own and I was not compensated in any other way.

About Torani: Since 1925, 3rd generation family-owned Torani has been crafting great tasting flavored syrups that coffeehouses use to make their flavored drinks taste so delicious. With over 120 flavors in Regular and Sugar Free varieties, Torani flavored syrups are perfect for flavored lattes, mochas, coffees, cocoas, Italian sodas, teas, lemonades, cocktails and smoothies. Coffeehouse professionals choose Torani flavors because they are expertly crafted and made with the highest quality ingredients, like natural flavors and pure cane sugar. The Sugar Free flavors have no calories and are sweetened with Splenda. Now, Torani flavored syrups are widely available at retail so you can easily create authentic coffeehouse quality drinks at home.

This past Monday I took part in my first Google+ Hangout on Air with Cyn from Creative Cynchronicity. We shared 3 quick and easy ornaments and this Scrappy Star was one of them! (Warning this post is photo heavy!) Watch the hangout via Youtube to find out how to turn this ornament into a garland as well!

In the mood for some Holiday Inspiration? Next week over 22 crafty bloggers will be sharing holiday crafts, party tips, décor ideas, and festive recipes in a series of Google+ Hangouts on Air (HoA).

Ready for the really fun part? Yours truly will be hosting a hangout at 4 p.m. CST on Monday with Cyn from Creative Cynchronicity! As if a month of ornament tutorials wasn’t enough, we’re going to be sharing three quick and easy trinkets for your tree!

Did I mention this would be live? To tune in, just come back to THIS POST and about a half an hour before the event starts you should be able to click the image directly above and it will take you where you need to go! You can visit the event page HERE or my own Google + profile HERE to watch! The beauty of Google+ Hangouts is that even if you’re unable to catch the live broadcast you can always head over to Youtube and watch at your convenience. P.S. You don’t need to have a Google+ account to watch the #HolidayHangout!

Not in the mood for more ornaments? Check out the schedule below, it’s packed with all kinds of holiday themed projects from a host of talented bloggers! Just follow the links to their Google + profiles at the time of their hangout!

For the record, I looked up vignette and this sparkling little beauty fits the bill in more ways than one. -Erin

When I started this year’s No Ugly Ornament Series I had no idea what to expect. This was the first time I’d ever had guest posters and quite honestly I constantly questioned how I managed to get such talented bloggers to share their stuff on my little blog. I thought for sure there must have been a misunderstanding and at any minute I’d get the e-mail saying, “Sorry…” But guess what? That message never came and this past month has left me completely humbled by the friends and relationships made through blogging and reminded of the positive effects of connected with like-minded folks. Thank You all and I hope you’ll stop by again next year!

Now for the final ornament…

I was torn on what to name it. Christmas Figurines in a Toilet Paper Rolls seemed too descriptive but it does explain things quite well. The idea behind this ornament has been on my mind since last year and it’s taken all that time for me to finally make the darn thing. Of course, now that it’s done I don’t know what kept me from making them sooner. They’re super easy and have a retro feel I just love.

Directions
I started out by cutting the toilet paper roll into 1 inch segments with pinking shears.

Next, I went ahead and strung the ornament using the needle and thread.

Then I painted the inside and outside with a mixture of white paint and white glitter. Honestly, the glitter wasn’t really needed but I wanted to make sure it was sparkly. I did leave one ornament unpainted and opted for green glitter in an attempt to make it more ‘nature-like.’

Once the paint was dry I painted a layer of glue on the inside and dipped the entire ornament into the fake snow.

Word to the wise…don’t buy this product. Why? Remember long ago when you’d rip open the newest Pearl Jam cd and there’d always be one or two pieces of plastic wrapping that’d stick to your hand, hair, clothes, whatever and it wouldn’t go away? Well, someone thought it would be an awesome idea to gather up all those annoying little pieces of plastic, stick them in a bag, and put a price tag on it so idiots like me would come along and buy it. Don’t be like me.

Despite the mess that is still all over the tablecloth it did look good, so maybe you should buy a bag, but wait until it’s on clearance.

With the insides looking like a frosty winter scene it’s time to add the sparkle to the outside by hot gluing the tinsel ribbon around the tube.

For real, I’m just completely in love with these guys, I want to make more and more of them! In fact I’m going to be using the empty ribbon roll to make a larger ornament with a more complete scene in it. I’ll share that one on Facebook when I’m done, be sure to check it out!